Oooh. The story is high-flying! I'm really looking forward to writing more . Also, don't bash me because I paired Ash with Casey. I needed a girl who lived in Johto and she was the only one I could think of. Don't mention the word "Misty", because I can't stand poke shipping.

Conflict on Arrival

"Ash!" came a girl's voice as we got off the train. I looked around and saw Casey running towards us. I hadn't seen her before, but I knew how she looked from the various pictures which Ash had taken, a few of which were in my scrapbook. She looked a bit different though. Her hair was still up, but she had ditched her hat and old clothes. She was wearing jeans along with a simple casual top. Ash ran forward and pulled her into a tight hug, leaving me and Drew with his luggage.

Ash was hugging her really tightly and swinging her around a bit. For some reason, this made me feel a bit uncomfortable towards Drew. He seemed to be feeling the same way, considering the fact that he had suddenly become interested in Ash's luggage.

Ash finally let go of Casey and moved towards us, beckoning her to follow.

"Okay," said Ash, "Well, this is Casey… my girlfriend," he pointed out unnecessarily, "Anyway, Casey… this is May, I've told you about her, and this is Drew. Brock couldn't make it, so Drew came along instead… he's a really good trainer, he beat me in my birthday tournament yesterday,".

Casey shook my hand and then went on to shake Drew's. I felt annoyed at how Ash was complimenting Drew… it was as though Drew was the protagonist of our little adventure now.

"Well," said Casey a few minutes later, as we made our way out of the station, "I've booked us into a hotel here. I was traveling all day to get here! I booked two rooms for us, as all of them are double bed rooms. I booked one for me and you and the other for Brock and May, but as Brock couldn't make it, we could always have Drew take his place,"

"Yeah, I'll be glad too," said Drew, "By double beds, you mean two separate beds right? Or do me and May have to sleep in the same one?"

I had been thinking the very same thing. I would rather sleep out on the street than share a bed with Drew. I was already partially annoyed at how I had to share a room with him, let alone a bed.

"Two separate ones!" said Casey, "But if you want, you can push them together like me and Ash are," she added, kissing Ash on the cheek.

"Um," I said, trying to look polite instead of revolted, "No thanks, I like to sleep alone… it's more comfortable,"

Drew nodded next to me. Ash and Casey exchanged glances and I had a feeling that I knew exactly why. They were probably teasing us or something, thinking that we liked each other or something of that sort.

We had hit the streets of Goldenrod city now. It was a really big city, laden with sky scrapers. Whilst it was dark, lights shone all around us, giving the city a glamorous top-notch city effect. A cool breeze cooled my face as I walked.

Casey stopped walking in front of a tall building. It looked really sparkly and new.

"Well," she said, turning and smiling at the rest us, "We're here! 5-star hotel!"

We all walked in behind her and entered the sparkling marble hall. Ash and Casey went forwards to check in so Drew and I stayed back and waited. There were beautiful pictures of different Pokemon lining all of the walls. Drew was also looking around in apparent awe, he was smiling around at the pictures of Pokemon, yet when he looked at one particular picture he just seemed to froze. His eyes were fixed on the picture and then he just turned around and looked at the floor. I noticed that his knuckles were clenched as he looked down.

I moved a bit so I could see the picture which he looked around at. It was an illustration of some kind of war. Two army tanks were facing each other, there were flames in the background and many, many bodies on the floor. The only things that seemed to still be fighting were the two tanks, and underneath the painting there was the caption "Last ones standing," underneath which the words "In honor of the war of Hoenn,". I knew a bit about the war of Hoenn. It had occurred when I was young, but it didn't spread to my home. It happened somewhere near Slateport city, and it was called "The War Of Hoenn," because it was the biggest war that ever occurred in the region. A few soldiers had gone off from Petalburg to fight in it, but there were no shootings or anything in the actual city.

I looked back at Drew. He was now a bit pale. Had something about that painting have done something to him? His hands were now shaking slightly.

"Drew," I said, a little uncertainly, "Are you alright, something looks wrong,"

Drew opened his mouth to speak, but at that moment, Ash and Casey came back.

"Okay!" said Ash, pointing to the elevator, "We've checked in! Rooms 346 and 347, up on the third floor,"

"Are you alright Drew," said Casey, who had also noticed Drew's strange behavior, "You look so pale,"

"What," said Drew, looking up at her in surprise, "Oh, I'm just a little travel sick... that's all, it always happens when I go on long trips," he smiled, but something about his smile looked fake. There was still a trace of illness in his eyes.

When we got to our rooms, Ash and Casey went into room 346 and gave me the key to 347. Drew looked better now, but I was confused about what had happened down in the lobby. There turned out to be an inside door connecting both of our rooms, so we ordered dinner and ate it in privacy. Discussing plans.

"Well," said Casey, "There are no Pokemon contests in Goldenrod city, but there's a really big Mall and there's the park to check out. I checked in to this hotel for two nights, so we have all of tomorrow to do whatever, then on Wednesday morning, we'll leave for Olivine city,"

"Is there a contest there?" I asked. I was excited about entering, but I did want to stay here for a while. I loved big malls.

"Yes," said Casey, "I've also got a holiday house there, with a car! So we don't have to check in to any hotel or anything,"

"Cool," I said, really excited about the adventure ahead.

We finished dinner and got changed into our PJs. I wasn't really tired, because of the timezone change so once I had bid Ash and Casey goodnight, I climbed into bed and opened my scrapbook. I had more photos to stick in. Drew however, seemed to want to go straight to bed.

"May, can we switch of the light?" he said from his bed, "I'm trying to sleep,"

"You know what?" I retorted, not really looking at him, "I don't know how I ended up having to share a room with you… now stop telling me to turn off the light! I'm trying to finish sticking all of these photos into my scrapbook!"

"Why do you bother with that?" Drew asked, "Don't you want to forget about the past, now that it's over?"

I opened my mouth to answer, but before I could, a loud noise interrupted me. It sounded a lot like a gun shot and for one second I was scared. Next minute however, Casey came into our room, looking annoyed.

"Don't mind that, it's just the fireworks at the mall," she said, looking nonplussed, "They put them on every time they open a new shop and it's really annoying… but don't bother going and looking now, they don't make it look very spectacular,"

With that, she left. I fell back into my bed and put my scrapbook away. I was a bit tired now. I moved to turn off the light when my eyes fell on Drew. He was very pale again, and he was shaking once more. He was once again looking down and his knuckles were clenched. It looked like something was troubling him.

"Drew!" I said, a little loudly, "You've seen fireworks before, why are you looking all worried about something,"

"I…" said Drew in a quiet voice, he seemed to be talking to his bedsheets rather than me, "I don't like the sound of gunshots,"

"I thought none of us did," I said, displaying some of Drew's usual arrogance. I seemed to have said the wrong thing though. Because at that moment, Drew looked at me with a look of seriousness, and he said in a very serious tone which seemed to be mixed with sadness,

"May, my parents were killed in that war…"

"What!" I said, a little intrigued by this piece of information.

"You wouldn't understand," said Drew in the same tone. With that, he seized his bedsheet and covered himself and turned himself away from me. I could swear that I heard a sob coming from his way too.

"Wait!" I said, "Drew! I didn't know… I'm sorry," I said pleadingly. Drew didn't answer. Had this been something else, then I wouldn't have really apologized to Drew, but I never knew that he had no parents because of the war. That must have been why Drew had started acting strange when he saw the picture, and why the loud noise seemed to have scared him. War must have affected his life. When something like this happened to someone, I had to pity them. I must have really upset Drew though, because I had never seen him act like that to me before. The seriousness and sadness in his voice was terrible to hear. He just wasn't the Drew I knew when he acted like that. I turned off the light, and I tried to go to sleep, but I couldn't help noticing that it was rather obvious that Drew wasn't sleeping.

Like it? I suppose the real contestshippy starts here. I suppose you're all pitying Drew right now… I most certainly am. I shouldn't have affect his life so badly… but hey… I neeeeed drama. Anyway… next chappy coming tomorrow .